FRONT STREET MEDIA

[All-students] Important Message Regarding "merger" of two-year colleges and tech schools

Hello GPC Students,

You may or may not know that Governor Purdue is currently reviewing a proposal entitled “Tough Choices or Tough Times.” The section of the proposal that should concern you discusses the “merger” of the two-year colleges with the tech schools. According to several newspaper articles, the term “merger” is a misnomer. GPC and other two-year colleges would no longer exist. We would no longer belong to the University System of Georgia (USG). Instead, two-year institutions would be absorbed by the tech schools.

Why should you oppose this “merger”? As a GPC student, you have benefitted in the following ways:

1. Quality education. You are taught by award winning faculty in small classes. Because GPC belongs to the University System of Georgia, all the college-level courses you take transfer to any of the four-year colleges or universities within the University System of Georgia. GPC also has TAG Agreements (Transfer Agreement Guaranties) with over thirty public and private four-year institutions and universities in and out of the state. If you maintain a certain GPA at GPC, you are guaranteed admittance into a particular school.

2. Success: GPC transfers more students to the University of Georgia, Georgia State College, and many other four-year state colleges and universities than any other two-year school in the system. Many of our students graduate from four-year institutions with honors. To help all students succeed, we offer remedial courses to prepare students for college-level classes. Remediation at the college level will be non-existent if the governor passes the proposal. GPC also offers English as a Second Language (ESL) to support Georgia’s diverse student population. Under this merger, ESL and other academic programs will not survive.

For those of you who wish to earn an associate’s degree, you will have fewer available programs of study.



3. Access: We offer quality education at a reasonable price at multiple locations around the metro-area: Clarkston, Decatur, Newton, Dunwoody, and Alpharetta. We also offer the largest selection of freshman and sophomore level online courses than any other school in the University System of Georgia. Students can complete their first two years of course work without coming to campus.



If you, your friends, and your family want access to an affordable quality education within the University System of Georgia, we ask that you contact Lt. Governor Casey Cagel, your state representatives, and Governor Purdue to state that you do not support the merger of the two-year schools with the technical college system. Two-year colleges should remain members of the USG because of the benefits they offer you and all Georgia citizens.

Because the governor could approve this proposal at any time, we have provided the links below to assist you (you may have to cut and paste the addresses into your browsers):

1. Lt. Governor Casey Cagel: 404- 656-5030; E-mail: http://ltgov.georgia.gov/00/agency/contact_us/0,2688,2199618_87997337,00.html

2. State Representatives: To find names, numbers, and e-mail addresses: Congress.Org http://www.congress.org/congressorg/state/main/?zip=30097&action=setaddr&view=myofficials&state=GA&submit=GO Type in your address to locate your two state representatives.

3. Governor Purdue: 404-656-1776; E-mail: http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,78006749_94820188,00.html

If you decide to contact Lt. Gov. Casey Cagel, your state legislators, and Gov. Purdue, please do so as soon as possible. If your state legislators are unfamiliar with the proposal, ask them to contact Lt. Gov. Cagel.

If you have any concerns, feel free to discuss them with your instructors.

Thanks for your support,

Beth Jensen, Ph.D.

Professor of English

bjensen@gpc.edu